Is there a difference between whining and complaining? Is complaining more effective than whining? Is the tone of the voice the only difference between the two?
I've been asked to attend a meeting of concerned citizens who, ostensibly, want to lay out the issues concerning their concerns. (Nice redundancy, don't you think?) Since this is a somewhat spontaneous get-together, I realize that I need to gather my thoughts into a cogent form, in the unlikely event that I would speak up. My cynicism has been running rather deep as of late, and I am highly conflicted about the efficacy of "speaking up".
Is it not a shame that a person can become so cynical as to suppose and assume that sharing a thought or concern would be ignored, at best and publicly mocked at worst? Yet, I have witnessed and experienced this very phenomenon first-hand and I can say, with the deepest of sincerity, that it is a humiliating and demeaning feeling. Which leads me back to my cynicism towards speaking frankly and openly. It seems, at times, to be better for the psyche to simply keep the duct tape on one's mouth, literally and figuratively.
Being open and honest is just not what it is cracked up to be. As for me, I'll opt for obfuscation and cloudy, complicated replies, much like a politician would give.
Honesty? Nah. Been there, done that. Not all that effective.
Ancora imparo
